Senate hopefuls see taxes differently

The two candidates running for the open Idaho Senate seat in Post Falls have little in common – except for the desire to get elected.

Republican Jim Hammond, 56, touts his experience as Post Falls mayor and city administrator and has aligned himself closely, including by sharing billboards along Seltice Way, with two Republican House members from the same District 5 area.

Democrat Chuck Thomas, 55, refuses to characterize himself as a politician. Instead, the newcomer to politics and retired Coeur d’Alene firefighter says he’s “a worker who wants to work for the working man,” or in this case, the voters.

Whoever wins the Nov. 7 election will replace Sen. Dick Compton, R-Coeur d’Alene, who is retiring.

While Hammond is filling his war chest with cash from political action committees and big business, Thomas has taken nearly $20,000 from his own pocketbook, including loans.

Thomas said his priorities are to repeal the right-to-work law, which bans unions from requiring that employees join or pay dues as a condition of employment; raise the minimum wage; and remove the sales tax from groceries – to help the working people of Idaho who, he says, are often overlooked.

This platform is outlined in his twangy campaign song, “Idaho Way,” written by Thomas, who has played local gigs for years wearing a cowboy hat.

“The Republicans are against the worker, retired people and against the kids,” Thomas said.

He blames most of Idaho’s economic problems on the right-to-work law, which he said drove off the unions and has made it nearly impossible for residents to make a good living.

It has been decades since Hammond, a Missoula native, sang in school plays and the choir. He argues he doesn’t need a catchy tune to tell voters what he stands for: education, giving property tax relief to homeowners and creating a statewide community college system.

He doesn’t see a problem with right-to-work, which was passed nearly 20 years ago, and said people should have the choice not to join unions. He argues the law hasn’t impacted wages.

Hammond is teamed with Republican Reps. Bob Nonini and Frank Henderson, both of Post Falls and seeking re-election, because as a freshman he said he needs to educate himself on how the Legislature works.

“You can’t do anything on your own,” Hammond said. “You need to create trust and collegial relationships.”

Yet Hammond said he already has an advantage because as a Post Falls mayor and city administrator, he testified on numerous bills and is familiar with the legislative system. A former elementary school principal, Hammond was appointed by former Gov. Dirk Kempthorne to the Idaho State Board of Education and is the current chairman of the state Charter School Committee.

Hammond quit his job as city administrator in September to concentrate on the campaign. He supported the special legislative session in August called by Republican Gov. Jim Risch that raised the sales tax 1 percent and took the operation and maintenance costs off the property tax roles.

Hammond said more work is needed. He supports Henderson’s idea to take a five-year average of market value to get rid of the spikes in assessment increases that are used to calculate property taxes. It wouldn’t prevent valuation increases, but it would take away some of the shock, he said.

He also supports Henderson’s plan to increase the grocery credit, an alternative to the Democrat’s idea to eliminate sales taxes on groceries. Republicans say it’s premature to remove the sales tax completely from groceries. To them, a better option is to increase the income tax credit on groceries. Currently, families can receive a $20 income tax credit, while people older than 65 can receive up to $35 credit.

Thomas and the Democrats say people can’t afford to wait and that expanding the grocery credit will do little to help families.

As a former teacher, Hammond said he thinks Idaho needs to raise the standards required to get a teaching degree. That, he said, would mean teachers could attract more pay and have better qualifications.

Thomas opposed the Republicans’ property tax plan, arguing it was a tax shift because it increased the sales tax by 1 cent. He said that hurts the poorest people in the state. He said the legislature needs to start over. Thomas said he thinks lawmakers should have given property tax relief to longtime residents for their primary homes, not to businesses or summer-only residents with multimillion-dollar waterfront mansions.

If the state would have focused tax relief on longtime residents, he said, there wouldn’t be a need to increase sales tax. He also said he thinks developers should have to pay impact fees on schools, so new construction doesn’t burden people already living in Idaho.

Both Thomas and Hammond oppose Proposition 1, which would force lawmakers to increase funding for schools by an amount equal to what a 1 cent sales tax increase would raise. For next year, the latest estimates put that figure at $219 million. They also oppose Proposition 2, which would enact a sweeping new regulatory takings law, requiring government to pay property owners if any land-use regulation diminishes their potential profits from full development of their land.